


Steven Universe: Idocrase's Insurgence

by Okapifarms



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Original Character - Freeform, Other, gemsona, space, universe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-01-04 05:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21192083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okapifarms/pseuds/Okapifarms
Summary: This fanfiction is a rewrite of my first (scrapped) Fanfiction, Road to Rebellion. Rewritten for continuity errors, length reasons, and because I don't feel enough descriptions were added. I hope you enjoy reading "Steven Universe: Idocrase's Insurgance





	1. The Escape (Part 1)

The Escape (Part 1)

The alarms blared as the entire complex glowed with bright flashing yellow lights.  
“Prisoner X-103 had escaped, I repeat, Prisoner x-103 has escaped.” The almost robotic voice said over the prison’s PA system. Despite the several groups of slim green gems that ran all over the numerous floors, one lone green gem ran around the outer octagonal hallway, running to the now deactivated prison cell that held prisoner X-103.  
The Idocrases were used to attempted escapes at the prison, but this was the first successful escape. The lone Idocrase kneeled down to inspect the panel that controlled the cell’s destabilization field.  
“The fields gone...but there isn’t any damage to the field containment apparatus..someone had to have let her out on purpose…” The green gem muttered to herself.  
Before 7IS could process what had happened, she felt a huge impact on her shoulder, and she fell to the ground on her side. She looked up after regaining her senses to see a familiar, well built frame standing over her, brandishing a bright green hammer with a large square head.  
A loud, commanding voice boomed from the tall figure  
“7IS! What in White Diamond’s name are you doing?! Sitting around won’t recapture the rogue Pearl!”  
“I was just trying to figure out how she escaped, Green Agate.” 7IS said as she stood up.  
Green Agate furrowed her eyebrows  
“I don’t care what you were doing! Every moment you spend here being idle, that Pearl gets another step closer to escaping!”  
“I apologize, Green Agate. I’ll go find her right away!”  
“Don’t just stand there, get moving!”  
After a quick nod, 7IS began running throughout the bright yellow hallways. The chaos and confusion was palpable in the air. Large groups of Idocrases each ran throughout the different floors. 7IS ran to one of the elevator shafts, quickly followed by 3 other Idocrases.  
“You, 7IS. We’re going to the top floor.”  
“But why, 3IM? The Hanger is already locked down. She’s gotta be here.” 7IS said  
“It’s her only escape route, that is unless she wanted to go through the giant destabilization field. 4IJ, 4IK and I figured that we at least gotta check.”  
7IS nodded.  
“Right, let’s go then, at least guard it in case she tries to go through.”  
The elevator began ascending up through the several floors in the prison. 7IS looked down to the middle of the large pit that sat in the middle of the prison, where Agate was barking orders to the other groups of tall slender gems. It didn’t take long for the elevator to reach the top floor. The group of four Idocrases ran through the doors as they opened.  
The Idocrase that lead the charge shouted  
“Stay alert, she could be around any corner!”  
The Idocrases began running down the hall. As they continued down the hallway, the sound of creaking metal began to echo throughout the halls.  
“What is that?” 7IS called out  
“It’s coming from the hangar!” one of the other Idocrases shouted  
The group of four Idocrases burst through the doorway that led to the large hangar. A bright light shined from the end of the ship lined hangar. The sound of the immense hangar doors groaning resonated throughout the large room as a tall, light purple gem with long flowing iridescent hair was lifting the door open with her bare hands.  
“Hey You! Stop!” one of the other Idocrases shouted.  
The tall gem turned her head to look at the gems that entered the hangar. Each of the idocrases froze as they caught a glimpse of the tall gem’s four eyes staring at them  
7IS brought her hands up to the green square gem that rested on the back of her neck. The gemstone glowed as a brilliant green light sprang forth from the center, manifesting as a pair of sais. Immediately after they were summoned, 7IS threw them at the tall gem, who knocked the sais away like they were nothing.  
The large metal door creaked and groaned as it was pushed further from the floor, and with a mighty push, the door flew open just long enough for the tall purple gem to jump out of the metal doorway.  
Without anything to stop it, the door slammed down into the floor. It created a thunderous boom that shook the walls of the prison. After that, silence overtook the four green gems as they all stared at the now slightly cumbled door, still in shock at what had just occurred.  
“My stars...did that just happen? One of them muttered under their breath  
“She really just jumped out there? That’s suicide” another one asked  
“No...she wouldn’t have survived. There’s a several thousand foot drop right outside the hangar door. That would shatter any gem, or at least crack their gem terribly.”  
The four Idocrases turned their heads as the door opened behind them, and standing in the middle of the doorframe stood Green Agate. Her face contorted from the sheer amount of anger in her eyes.  
“Do any of you want to explain what just happened?!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.  
7IS stepped towards Green Agate  
“I-I apologize, Green Agate. We did everything we could.  
“So you mean to tell me that the Pearl escaped?!”  
“M-Most likely, Green Agate.” the Idocrase responded, looking down for a brief moment.  
“And what is that supposed to mean?”  
“The gem that got away was a fusion, so it’s likely that the pearl fused with another gem to escape.”  
Green Agate clenched her fists  
“So what you’re saying is that you Idocrases not only let another gem sneak into this prison, this place for the worst war criminals imaginable, but you also allowed them to sneak Rose Quartz’s Pearl out as well?” the Agate shouted  
“W-We did everything we could…” Idocrase mumbled under her breath  
“Oh good for you! You tried. I’ll be sure to tell that to General Amber!” Agate shouted back before turning her back and walking off.  
The four gems stood in shock as the door closed behind Green Agate.  
“My stars...that was intense…” 7IS muttered under her breath.  
“You can say that again.” 4IJ said  
“So, what do we do now?  
‘I guess we wait, you know, for Green Agate to give us the speech she always does if something happens. Like when we forgot to check that the destabilization field for that cell we put that one Rebel Ruby in. ”  
4IK let out a slight chuckle  
“General Amber had you Idocrases made because she believed in your potential. Every mistake you make disappoints our beloved General.” She mocked as three of the Idocrases slowly walked towards the entrance to the hallway that Agate went down moments before.  
“7IS, you coming? 3IM said, turning around  
She paused for a brief moment before answering  
“Oh, I’ll catch up. I’ll see if that fusion messed with any of the ships.”  
“If you say so, but I think you’re being really paranoid.” 3IM said with a shrug as the other three Idocrases walked out the door, leaving 7IS alone.  
For several hours, 7IS went to each of the rounded yellow ships, inspecting each one to see if any of them had been messed with. Despite what she would have thought, it appeared none of the ships were tampered with in the slightest. As she finished looking at one of the last ships, she heard the small tone that indicated that a message was about to play over the PA. Agate’s Voice sounded over the announcement system, instead of the usual robotic voice.  
“All Idocrases report to room Alpha-3 for immediate briefing.” she said in a cold tone  
7IS left the ship she was in and left the hangar. As she entered the hallway, she saw the other several dozens of Idocrases all converging towards a single, small doorway on the top floor.  
As 7IS entered the room, she saw her sisters standing from shoulder to shoulder. She stood next to 3IM near the back of the room. There were whispers being heard throughout the entire room. The whispers stopped as Green Agate herself walked into the room, quickly making her way to the front of the room. She cleared her throat, and the Idocrases all stood at attention. The sternness in her voice echoed throughout the room as she spoke  
“You all should know why I called you here. To discuss the events that just occurred.” Do any of you know who escaped?”  
The Idocrases stood silently as Agate’s brow twitched slightly  
“You! 7IS!” she shouted  
7IS shuddered slightly as the name of the escaped gem left her lips  
“R-Rose Quartz’s Pearl.”  
“That’s Right! Rose Quartz’s Pearl! Her right hand gem! One of the most important rebels, and you all let Rose Quartz herself sneak in, break her out, and escape with both of their lives!”  
7IS began to hear footsteps in the halls, quiet, but quickly growing louder.  
Agate took a short breath before continuing.  
“General Amber had you Idocrases made because she believed in your potential. She said.  
7IS could hear a chuckle being suppressed from 3IM as she guessed the very words Green Agate would say.  
“However, after this mistake. I’m afraid this is not the case anymore.”  
With those words, several large, yellow gems began entering the room. They all walked in unison.  
“Idocrases, I’d like you to meet the Citrines. They are going to be your...replacements.”  
A wicked grin curled across Green Agate’s face  
“Citrines!”  
The Citrine Soldiers all stood at attention.  
“Execute them.”  
The Citrines all summoned their weapons immediately. The Idocrases barely had a moment to think before they were set upon by the Citrine soldiers. The Idocrases that weren’t immediately attacked all summoned their own weapons. The room immediately became filled with the sounds of screams and shatters as 7IS weaved and pushed her way through the imposing Citrines, using their momentary distractions to sneak by.  
With several very close calls, 7IS made it to the exit. In a moment of panic, she darted into a different hallway to hide. She stood for several seconds, the shock of the situation making her entire body shake, trying to grasp any sort of idea on what to do next. She felt a hand firmly grasp her shoulder. 7IS quickly turned around, afraid that a Citrine would be staring her down. A wave of relief washed over her as she saw the slightly taller 3IM, looking nearly as panicked as herself.  
“W-We gotta get out of here. They’ll shatter us if we don’t!” 7IS said as her voice shook as much as her body did.  
3IM quickly covered 7IS’s mouth.  
“Keep it down. They’ll hear us” 3IM hushed  
“We can do this. You go get a ship ready, I’ll open up the hangar door.”  
“B-But what if they shatter you? I don’t want to be alone” 7IS replied as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.  
“As much as I'd love to assure you, there’s no time. Go, but if it comes down to saving me and you escaping, You get out of here.”  
7IS slowly nodded as she wiped the budding tears from her eyes.  
“Y-yeah....See you soon.”  
Both green gems began running in opposite directions as the last desperate screams of nearly every Idocrase echoed throughout the hallways. The sounds of shattering gemstones slowly began to blur together as 7IS ran into the hangar, immediately making a beeline for one of the ships that she inspected earlier.  
The green gem ran straight to the control console at the front of the round ship. The low hum of the ship’s engine began growing louder as she steered the spacecraft to the middle of the long, empty runway.  
The moments that 7IS spent in the ship seemed to stretch on for several minutes as she stared at the now closed hangar door, waiting for it to raise up any tiny bit. The feeling of dread that 7IS had grew more and more with each second where nothing happened.  
“Come on 3IM...Get the door open already…” She muttered to herself.  
As if on command, 7IS could see the tiniest sliver of bright light at the end of the end of the runway. She made the slightest grin as the sliver of light began to grow bigger. She turned around and ran to one of the rear facing window so she could watch the door for 3IM.  
It didn’t take long for the other Idocrase to burst through the door in a full sprint with a panicked expression on her face. 7IS ran to the ship’s entrance.  
“Come on! We’re almost there!” 7IS shouted  
“What are you doing?! Get to the controls! She’s coming!” 3IM yelled.  
Agate ran through the open door mere moments after 3IM finished her sentence, brandishing her hammer.  
“Oh no, I’m not letting you failures escape!” Agate fumed as she threw her hammer.  
With barely a moment to spare, 3IM ducked into the ship. She felt the breeze the hammer made as it flew right behind her head flying off past her.  
With barely a moment to spare, 3IM ducked into the ship, sealing up the entrance behind her.  
“7IS! Get us out of here!” She yelled, still reeling from the shock of everything that happened in the past few minutes.  
7IS dashed to the console and began to accelerate the ship. 3IM went into the large central room and looked out the rear window to see Green Agate grow further and further away. 3IM let out a sigh of relief as the ship accelerated towards the now fully open hangar door.  
“We...We made it…” She said as the ship shot out of the hangar.  
“Yeah...We did” 7IS replied  
The ship flew up into the planet’s deep blue sky, and soon entered the purple sea of space that was littered with the millions of glowing white dots.  
“Okay, now that we’re clear of the atmosphere, We’re gonna go into hyperspace. Put as much distance between us and here and Homeworld as we can.” 7IS said  
With the press of a few buttons, the ship let out a loud, high pitched tone as the gravity engine powered up, which started accelerating the ship. The small dots of white starlight began to turn into bright white lines that began to decorate the great void of space as the ship entered hyperspace.


	2. The Escape (Part 2)

The two green gems sat in silent contemplation in the ship as they rocketed through hyperspace, reflecting on what occurred less than an hour ago.  
“So...that’s it...We’re the last Idocrases in existence…” 7IS said  
“Mhmm” 3IM replied, not looking away from the window.  
“What do we do now?...We can’t go back to homeworld...they’ll kill us on the spot.”  
3IM took a few moments to respond  
“I had an idea, but it would be...sort of crazy.”  
“Lay it on me, any sort of plan is better than nothing, even if it’s crazy.”  
“what if we joined Rose Quartz’s Rebellion on Earth?”  
Silence hung over the two last Idocrases for a few moments after 3IM finished her sentence  
“...There’s no way they’d accept us...they want to shatter all homeworld gems, they’d probably kill us too.”  
“Probably, but I’ll gladly take likely death over certain death.”  
“I guess you’re right. What else do we have to lose?”  
“True, and the enemy of our enemy is probably our friend, right?”  
“Most likely, you never know with unruly gems like that.”  
“Mhmm. so, It’s settled then, we’re going to try and join the rebellion then. Hold on, I’m gonna take us out of hyperspace so we can go the right way.”  
3IM peered out of the ship’s rear window and froze as she saw a separate ship following them through hyperspace.  
“U-Um, 7IS? We got company!”  
“What do you mean?”  
The console’s graphic interface lit up, indicating that a transmission was coming through. As soon as the transmission began to come through, 7IS instantly recognized the voice of Green Agate on the other side.  
“You Idocrases are huge fools if you think I’d let you escape that easily!” She shouted  
“It’s Green Agate?!” 3IM Called out  
“Yes, and in case you are too stupid to realize it, your fellow Idocrases are all dead, and I don’t intend on letting you two slip through my fingers either!” She shouted.  
Suddenly, the ship’s power cut out, including the transmission. Sparks jumped from the walls of the ship to the various electronics inside. The hum of the gravity engine came to a stop as the ship fell out of hyperspace, shortly followed by the rest of every other device on the ship.  
“What’s going on?” 7IS asked, raising her voice  
“She hit us with an EMP blast!” 3IM replied as the ship fell out of hyperspace.  
The entire ship began to tremble slightly as its weight began to shift  
“Great...Now what?” 7IS muttered  
3IS shielded her eyes from a bright white light that shone through one of the windows. As her eyes adjusted to the light, her eyes widened with fear..  
“7IS! There’s a black hole!” she shouted with a tremor in her voice  
“WHAT?!”  
“It’s gonna pull us in!”  
“My stars…”  
“I’m gonna go see if I can reboot everything.”  
“R-Right! Console and engines first! If those are up, I can buy us more time if they’re working! I'll try to keep us stable until everything is working again!”  
3IM nodded and ran back down to the engines. 7IS grabbed the control wheel as the ship started accelerating faster. She began turning the control wheel, and the ship responded by turning slightly.  
“Thank the stars...at least this works…”  
As the ship slowly started to turn, a brilliant white light shined through the large frontal window. For a brief moment, the light consumed 7IS’ vision before her eyes adjusted to the light. She saw the large black hole, surrounded by a ring of light that it would soon consume. Orange gas and dust swirled around the ship, lightly obscuring the immense ball of void several miles ahead. For a brief moment, all 7IS could focus on was the black hole ahead. Her grip on the control wheel loosened as she stared into the cosmic abyss, her body frozen in place as it seemed to stare back at her. The ship shook, but 7IS hardly noticed. Every sound around her began to fade and blend together. The ship’s metal beginning to groan, the impacts of tiny dust and gas particles making minuscule collisions with the ship’s exterior, None of it registered with 7IS. She was too busy fighting for control over her body. She wouldn’t move, no matter how hard she willed herself. It felt as if the black hole was consuming her very will. Her fingers shook slightly  
She heard a voice break through all of the merging sound, pulling her attention away from the black hole.  
“7IS! I thought you said you’d keep us stable!”  
In that moment where she heard 3IM’s voice, she managed to take back control of her body once more. The hands that loosely held the control wheel became an iron-like grip. Only when she regained control did she realize that the ship was beginning to tilt forwards as the black hole pulled the ship closer and closer. 7IS pulled the control wheel backwards to start to pull up. The ship groaned more, and 7IS saw a small piece of the ship’s exterior get torn off and fell towards the immense black hole  
“How’s it going down there?!” 7IS called out  
“The console should be restarted....now!”  
The console began lighting up, shortly followed by the graphic interface. As soon as it powered up, The alarms started to sound.  
“Proximity warning: Black Hole DT-482. Distance to event horizon: 10 kilometers” the console read  
“We gotta get those engines up or else we’ll sucked in!” 7IS shouted  
“I’m working on it!”  
As the ship got pulled closer and closer. The dust and gas outside began slamming into the ship, making it shudder. The console alarm got louder.  
“Distance to Event horizon: 5 kilometers” the electronic voice screeched  
“We’re getting closer! Get the engines running!”  
“They’re almost done! The gravity engine has to go on after the regular! Get us turned around so we can get out of here!”  
The floor shook slightly as the engine below slowly began powering up. 7IS started to turn the ship around, the light surrounding the black hole casted shadows in the ship as if it was a last attempt to escape. 7IS activated the engines, which lit up with a loud hum.  
“The engines are on!” 7IS shouted  
“Good! The gravity engine will be back up in a minute! Think we can last that long?”  
7IS looked at the flashing proximity warning as the distance to the event horizon slowly stopped lowering. They were no longer getting closer to the black hole, though they were not getting any further away.  
“We’re not getting any closer!”  
“Great! I’m coming back up!”  
7IS looked back towards the stairs to see 3IM running into the main circular room.  
“3IM, Good job down there!”  
The low hum of the gravity engine slowly began to sound.  
“Heh, Thanks. Let’s get outta he-- LOOK OUT!”  
7IS turned around just in time to see an asteroid headed straight for their ship.  
“Woah!” 7IS immediately swerved the ship. The maneuver prevented the asteroid from colliding with the ship, but caused 3IM to fly towards the back of the ship. She hit the rear wall with a loud thud.  
“A-Are you okay?” 7IS asked.  
7IS’ question was quickly answered by a short beep, followed by a door opening.  
“Augh! 7IS! Help!”  
“3IM!” she shouted as she bolted to the back of the ship.  
7IS saw 3IM clinging to the bright yellow door frame. Every passing millisecond caused 3IM’s grip on the frame to loosen. 7IS leaped down the short flight of stairs just as 3IM’s fingers gave way. 7IS instinctively reached outside of the ship to try and grab her sister. She was lucky, if she took a moment longer to act, 3IM would have slipped out of her grasp. 7IS firmly grasped 3IM’s forearm, using her other arm to brace herself against the doorway. 7IS grunted as she tried to pull the other Idocrase inside, but the black hole pulled 3IM towards it.  
“D-Don’t let go!” 3IM shouted.  
Both Idocrases felt surges of pain as the black hole started pulling bits of light from their bodies in little drops that immediately fell towards the black hole.  
“I-I’m not gonna let you go!”  
7IS’s entire body shook under the weight it was trying to support, unable to pull the other gem back inside. She watched in terror as the gravity of the black hole began to pull on 3IM’s body, stretching it out. 3IM’s face contorted in agony as the feeling of her body stretching and thinning out coursed through her.  
“7IS...I-It hurts…I don’t think I can…”  
3IM was unable to finish her sentence before her expression greatly changed. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth went slack as the gravity of the black hole ripped her body in half. One moment stretched into a thousand as 3IM’s eyes locked with 7IS. A single tear sprouted a the corner of her eye before her body erupted into a cloud of smoke. The bright green gemstone that remained instantly fell out of 7IS’ reach.  
“3IM! NO!” 7IS cried out as the gemstone fell towards the black hole.  
7IS could only stare in shock at what had just happened. How could she do anything else as she watched the gemstone of the only other Idocrase fall into the all consuming void.  
With the last bit of strength her body could muster, she pulled her green body into the ship and hesitated to close the door, hoping that 3IM would somehow come back. She hung her head and looked away as she closed the door. 7IS walked up the stairs, a heavy stream of tears poured down her face as she silently cried. She looked at the console as she approached it. She looked at a large red button that would power down the ship, sending it spiraling out of control to the black hole.  
“...Maybe I should…”  
7IS placed a hand on the button as she prepared herself to push it. However, no matter how hard she willed her hand to press it, she would not move, as if there was a force field that prevented the button from being pressed.  
“D-Damn it all…”  
She raised her hand and brought it into a closed fist. she let out a loud yell as she slammed her fist down on the console, but not on the red button that would have meant her doom. With a low hum that quickly increased in pitch and volume, the ship started to move away from the pull of the singularity that swallowed her last remaining sister. The stars dotting the sky began to turn into streaks of light as the ship slowly made the jump to hyperspace.  
“...I-I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, 3IM…I hope Earth is worth all of this suffering…”  
The tears of the last Idocrase continued to fall onto the console as the ship continued on its course for Earth.


	3. Idocrase's Arrival

Chapter 3

It was still dark out when the phone next to Lars’ bed began to ring. He reached to the small table beside his bed, not lifting his face from the soft warm pillow. He felt around the tabletop blindly, knocking over an empty cup before finding the still ringing phone. He groaned as the phone refused to stop its insistent ringing.   
Lars answered the phone, not bothered enough to check who was calling, and put it up to his ear.  
“Hello?...” he said groggily.  
“Hey Lars.” A feminine voice replied as her speech slurred slightly.  
“Sadie?...you have any idea what time it is?...” Lars mumbled as he turned his head to read his alarm clock, which read 5:45 AM  
“I know, but I--”  
Her sentence was interrupted by a sudden gagging sound. Her voice shuddered before she continued.  
“I woke up 15 minutes ago puking my guts out...I need you to go and open up shop for me today…”  
“You gotta be kidding me…”  
“Sorry Lars, I promise I'll make it up to you somehow.”  
“You’d better…” Lars said with another tired groan before hanging up.   
Lars slowly rolled out of bed, not wanting to open his tired eyes. Normally he wouldn’t have to get up for another hour to go to work. He walked over to the lightswitch in his room and turned it on, flooding the room with warm yellow light. His purple “Big Donut” shirt laid in a crumpled pile on the floor with a small ketchup stain from the day before.   
“I really oughta wash this thing…” he muttered to himself as he begrudgingly put it on, followed by a fresh pair of pair of jeans from his dresser.   
As he walked out of his room, he grabbed a piece of paper and walked out into the kitchen, where he grabbed a black pen and proceed to write a short note.  
“Had to go to work early today.”  
He left the paper on the table underneath the pen he used to write it. His parents wouldn’t be up for another half an hour. He grabbed an apple on his way out the door and into the cool morning dew.   
“Ugh...It's too early in the year to be this cold” Lars muttered to himself, regretting not bringing a jacket.  
The sky slowly began to turn a violet hue as the sun decided to rise from its slumber. Amongst the purple twilight sky, Lars saw a small object flying in the sky  
“What...Is that?” he muttered as he focused on the small flying object.  
The flying object had a bright yellow color that stood out among a bright purple sky. It was way too round to be any sort of airplane.   
“Some sort of...spaceship?” Lars said as the object flew overhead.  
The object was close enough so Lars could hear the undulating engine. It flew over a dense area of woods before it slowly began to descend.   
“...Steven probably knows something about this” He said as he continued to walk towards Beach City  
The roads were quiet, with not another soul about at this time. The store fronts that were normally alive with business and chatter were silent. Not even the usual chatter of the seagulls stirred the air yet. The ocean was still, reflecting the purple sky in its mirror-like surface. Even though he hated waking up early, Lars couldn’t help but admire the peace and quiet of the early morning.  
The violet sky was slowly shifting to a blue tone as Lars came to the glass doors of The Big Donut. He fumbled in his pockets, feeling around for the key that would open up the doors to the well known donut shop.   
He grabbed the key and stuck it into the keyhole, hearing the click of a perfect fit. He opened the door to the establishment. The faint smell of sweet frosting hung in the air. He glanced at the analog clock on the wall, it read 6:10, which gave him just enough time to set up the front desk. He walked behind the counter and put on a pair of clear plastic gloves and started taking the multiple dozens of donuts from the cooler and put them on display behind the pristine glass cabinets.A small white cardboard box behind the counter caught his eye, the top read “Amethyst’s donut.” the box’s bottom was slightly damp.  
“Ew…” he said, picking the box up and tossing it into the garbage can. He glanced at the clock again, 6:20.  
“Meh. It’s not like anyone would be here for a donut this early anyway” he shrugged to himself  
That’s when the distinct ringing of the front door’s bell sounded. Lars looked over his shoulder to see Steven, wearing his one of his numerous pink shirts with a big yellow star in the center.   
“Hey Lars!”  
Lars groaned slightly  
“Hey Steven…”  
“Where’s Sadie, she’s usually here. On no, she didn’t get fired, did she?”   
“Nah, she’s home sick today, so I’m here for her.”  
“Oooh, okay. In that case, I'll take two chocolate donuts, and Amethyst wants her special donut.” Steven said, placing 10 dollars on the table.  
“Oh, uh...about that...I just threw it away” Lars said as he bagged two chocolate donuts and placed them on the counter  
“She’ll still eat it, Amethyst isn’t exactly a picky eater.”  
“If you say so.”   
Lars grabbed the box out of the garbage can, the moist bottom sending a chill down his spine.  
“You sure she wants to eat this?  
“Trust me, she’s been waiting all week for this.”  
Lars handed the box to Steven.  
“Oh, by the way, did one of your weird aunts find or make a yellow ship thing?”  
Steven tilted his head slightly  
“Not that I know of, why?”  
“I saw it flying around on my way here. It looked like it landed by Dead Man’s Mouth.”  
“Huh, I’ll talk to the gems about it.”  
“You think this’ll be a repeat of that giant green hand?”  
“I sure hope not.” Steven said as he walked out the door.  
Steven stepped off of the boardwalk and onto the white sandy beach. The seagulls alerted everyone nearby that they started waking up with their tired cries. Steven took one of the chocolate donuts out of the bad and admired its beauty. The colorful sprinkles almost seemed to sparkle in the morning sun. Steven took a bite of it as he began to round the giant stone woman that sat nestled in the side of the cliff, watching over the vast ocean as it clutched a small beach house near its belly with its strong, gray stone arms.   
Steven began walking up the wooden stairs to the house as a flash of blue light lit up the interior.  
“The gems are back!” he called out in excitement.  
Steven ran inside to see the Gem’s return. The three of them were soaking wet and covered in different aquatic plants. Amethyst in particular had a large fish biting down on her arm, flopping about.  
“Amethyst! What were you thinking?! You can’t just go and attack a school of memory fish!”  
“Why not? They were in the way, so I took care of them.”  
Garnet stepped off of the warp pad and grabbed hold of the large ocean blue fish that attached itself to Amethyst’s arm and pulled it clean off. Garnet was holding a bright pink bubble with an ornate box inside. The box was a light blue with swirls of a navy blue throughout. A golden band wrapped around the middle with a bright blue gemstone in the center of the gold band.   
“Woah! What’s that, Garnet?” Steven asked, excitedly.  
“It’s a box of mind melding. It was used back in the war for interrogations, a Gem under the effect of it would answer any question it was asked, without fail.” Garnet answered as she tapped the top of the bubble, sending it away.  
“That’s so cool!”  
“Hey Steven, you got my donut?” Amethyst asked  
“Oh, yeah. It’s right here.” Steven said as he held the box out, which began to give off a bizarre odor.  
“Aww yeah!” Amethyst exclaimed as she took the box and opened it. The smell that followed was foul, like someone left a fish sit out for several days. Amethyst took the mass of fried dough with chocolate frosting and fish heads on top and shoved it into her hungry mouth.   
“Hey guys? I think there’s something we should check out.” Steven continued as he plugged his nose.   
“For the last time, Steven, that buried steak bone isn’t a dinosaur fossil.” Pearl replied.  
“No, it’s not that. Lars said he saw a yellow ship.”  
“A yellow ship?” Pearl asked  
“Yeah! He said it landed near Dead Man’s Mouth. We should go check it out.”  
“If it’s a homeworld gem, We can’t afford to let it run around.” Garnet Interjected.  
“What should we do, Garnet?” Pearl asked, looking up at the tall fusion  
“We go out and find this gem. See what it wants.”  
“Oh! Can I come with?” Steven asked.  
“Steven, no. It’s too risky. What if this gem is after you?”  
“Then he’ll be safer where we can keep an eye on him.” Garnet said  
“Y-You can’t be serious, Garnet.” Pearl said out of surprise  
“Aww lighten up Pearl, besides It’s not like having Steven around makes fighting any harder.” Amethyst said as she patted Pearl on the back.  
“Okay, you can come with. But this is a serious mission. You need to do what we say.”  
“I will!” Steven said excitedly  
“Alright, let’s move.” Garnet said with the ever present authority in her voice.  
Steven and the Gems stepped onto the blue crystal warp pad. The group became enveloped in a pale blue light as a feeling of weightlessness overtook them. It was a feeling that Steven had gotten used to by now. He let out a hushed chuckle as he floated in place.  
The feeling of gravity came back nearly as quickly as it left, and the gems found themselves in the middle of a wooded area surrounded by tall trees with leaves of the brightest shades of green. Steven took a breath of fresh air as he hopped off of the warp pad.  
“Sooo, how do we find this mysterious gem?” Amethyst asked.  
“Follow me.” Garnet said as she started walking off.  
Pearl, Amethyst and Steven followed, letting Garnet lead.  
They all walked for several minutes throughout the bright green sea of trees. The smell of woodland flowers floated across the air, along with the scent of rotting wood. A small breeze cooled the summer morning air as the birds started to sing their merry songs.  
“So, What are we gonna do when we find this gem?” Steven asked  
“We’ll see what it wants, and I want you to stay behind us, Steven.” Pearl said  
Steven nodded as he and the gems continued through the forest, constantly looking around for any signs of a gem nearby. That was until several minutes later, when the rustling of a bush caught everyone’s attention. Pearl summoned her spear as a tall, green gem stepped out of the brush. The gem had bright green skin with dark green hair, and a homeworld uniform that was similar to Peridot’s, complete with Yellow Diamond’s insignia in the middle of its chest. Her tear stained eyes locked onto Pearl  
“It’s you…” The green gem muttered.  
Pearl took a step back, confused  
“Pearl, do you know her?” Steven asked.  
Pearl took a few steps forward, twirling her spear  
“Who are you? Why are you here?” Pearl asked with an agitated tone in her voice.  
“I-I am Idocrase, facet 2C7M, cut 7IS...I’ve come to join the war against homeworld.” She said  
The gems stood confused, except for Garnet, whose expression didn’t change in the slightest.  
“Rose put an end to the war a long time ago.” Pearl said  
“...Don’t lie to me…”  
“The war ended over 5,500 years ago, Idocrase.”  
“Stop...lying to me! I know you’re lying! I came here from the prison that YOU just escaped from with Rose’s help!”  
“That’s impossible! Rose has been gone for almost 15 years now!”  
“Sh-Shut up! You’re lying!” the Idocrase shouted as tears started to pool in the corners of her eyes.  
“3IM died while we tried to get here! I won’t let you tell me that I came all this way for nothing!” The Idocrase shouted  
The lone Idocrase summoned her sais and jumped at Pearl. Garnet, knowing this would happen, dashed in front of pearl and summoned her massive gauntlets. The gauntlets absorbed most of the impact from the piercing points, making the sais bounce off. Garnet reached out and grabbed the green gem by the stomach and threw her against the trunk of a large tree. The wood split and cracked where Idocrase hit. She fell to the ground, but started to stand back up, albeit on shaky legs. She stared at Garnet with a determined glimmer in her eye  
“You’re not going to stop me either!”  
The Idocrase shouted as she charged at Garnet, much faster than before. Garnet leaned back as the Idocrase’s sai swung upward. The slash caught Garnet’s glasses and broke them into two pieces, which revealed her 3 eyes. Upon seeing the fusion’s 3 eyes staring at her, Idocrase froze for a moment. That moment was all Garnet needed to dash behind Idocrase, and with one quick, precise movement, Garnet grabbed her gemstone and ripped it out.   
Idocrase’s form collapsed into clouds of smoke the instant her gem was pulled away.   
the few moments after the quick fight were silent. Garnet bubbled the square green gemstone that rested in the palm of her gauntlet.   
“She...seemed confused.” Steven said as he stared at the green gemstone inside the bubble.  
“She was a danger to herself out here. If we are going to try and reason with her, she needs to be somewhere more contained.” Garnet said  
“...Like the temple?”   
“Exactly.” Garnet said with a small smile.  
Garnet handed the bubble over to Steven as she began walking in the direction of the warp pad. Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven all followed the tall fusion.   
“It’s okay, Idocrase. We’re gonna figure out what happened” Steven said as he raised the bubble up, making it twinkle slightly in the morning sun.


	4. Truth and Tears

The Crystal Gems were all welcomed back into the warmth of the temple by the fading of the warp pad’s blue light.  
“Alright everyone, to the burning room” Garnet said as the door to the inner temple opened up, releasing a wave of heat that nearly made Steven’s eye’s dry up.  
“Why in there?” Steven asked  
“Because it’s contained, and doesn’t have any escape routes that she can use.” Pearl interjected.  
“Exactly” Garnet said  
“Well, what are we waiting for? She aint gonna unbubble herself” Amethyst said as she walked into the burning room.  
Garnet and Pearl followed the short purple gem, and the three of them were followed by Steven, who clutched the Bubble close to his chest.  
Steven looked up as soon as he entered the burning room. The room had hundreds, maybe thousands of bright pink bubbles that each contained gem inside. The site made Steven shudder slightly, knowing that each one of those bubbles contained a gem that lost its mind to corruption. One bubble in particular caught his eye, the most recent edition to the collection of corrupted gems, a bright orange gemstone with dark green spots on it.  
“Well...Let’s get this started.” Steven said as he popped the bubble and set it on the ground.  
The green gemstone sat motionless on the hot floor for several seconds until a dim glow started emanating from the center. Everyone watched in anticipation as the gemstone floated up into the air and shimmered as the green light inside intensified, filling the room with a brilliant green flash. When the flash subsided, the familiar Idocrase hovered in the air, having shed the homeworld uniform in favor of a more plain outfit. Her body was covered in an olive green, form fitting suit that left her arms and shoulders exposed. The suit was bisected at her hips by a brown wrap that looked similar to Pearl’s, only without the loop in the back. As Idocrase fell down, she landed neatly on her feet, which were now covered by brown boots that almost came up to her knees.  
Idocrase immediately looked around in panic and summoned her sais as soon as she saw the gems that attacked her earlier. Steven immediately stepped forward, not even bothering to summon his shield.  
“S-Stay back!” Idocrase shouted as she pointed both of her sais at Steven.  
“Hold on, we’re not going to hurt you. We just want to talk.” Steven said as he raised his arms in front of him.  
“Just want to talk?! Then what do you call what you just did to me?! That didn’t seem like you wanted to talk!” She said back, raising her voice.  
“First off, you’re the one who attacked us, homegirl. Get your story straight.” Amethyst remarked  
“Then quit lying to me! I know that Rose is still alive!” Idocrase snapped back.  
“We’re not lying to you, Idocrase. We’re trying to understand what happened, but we can’t if you don’t tell us what happened to you.”  
Idocrase looked around the room, and at the other gems surrounding her. She unsummoned her sais in a small glimmer of light as she hung her head.  
“I...served at the prison on Yellow Diamond Colony 9, the prison where homeworld keeps prisoners of war before shattering them.”  
Idocrase turned her head and looked Pearl in the eyes.  
“Rose Quartz’s Pearl... You escaped from the prison with her help.” Idocrase said in a more hushed tone.  
Idocrase continued, still looking at Pearl occasionally  
“General Amber wasn’t happy to hear that Rose’s right hand gem was allowed to escape, So General Amber...She…” Idocrase paused as tears started to well up in her eyes.  
Steven stepped towards her as her Idocrase’s body shook slightly.  
“She ordered every Idocrase shattered…3IM and I were the only ones that made it out of the prison.”  
“Idocrase 3IM?” Steven asked  
Idocrase nodded  
“Where is she? Is she in the woods where we found you?”  
“No...I…” She hesitated to continue her sentence.  
Idocrase fell to her knees as tears started to drip from her face onto the floor. The tears slowly started evaporating as they sat on the ground. Steven cautiously stepped towards her.  
“I...lost her on the way here...our ship’s power went out, which left us in the pull of a black hole…we almost got away, but I couldn't get 3IM back in time…”  
Idocrase’s head hung over, not even caring that Steven was mere inches away from her. Steven kneeled down and wrapped his arms around her in a loose hug. Idocrase barely reacted to the gesture.  
“I tried to save her, but I couldn’t…” Idocrase mumbled as the tears continued to roll down her face.  
“You said that you were close to a black hole, right?” Pearl said curiously  
Idocrase didn’t speak, only answering with a small nod.  
“I see...I think I understand what happened.” She said  
“You do?” Steven asked as both he and Idocrase looked up at Pearl.  
“Black holes are incredibly dense astral bodies. They are so dense that they can warp the space time continuum, making seconds near them turn into several years on the outside. That’s probably what happened.”  
“So you’re saying that I just...skipped forward in time?...without even noticing?” Idocrase asked  
Pearl nodded  
“Then...what about the war? What about Rose?” Idocrase asked, standing up  
“The war...didn’t really end well.” Garnet said.  
“The war ended when Pink Diamond was shattered by Rose. When Homeworld gave its soldiers the order to retreat, we saw it as a sign of victory. We couldn’t have foreseen what the diamonds did next.” Pearl said  
“What did the diamonds do?...” Idocrase asked  
“They decided to let loose one last attack directly to the planet’s surface. Rose could only shield herself, Garnet, and I, every other gem on the planet’s surface was corrupted.” Pearl said, remembering the bittersweet victory.  
“What became of Rose?” Idocrase asked as she started to calm down from her period of mourning  
Steven released the hug that he had on Idocrase and stepped backwards. Idocrase looked at him confused as Steven lifted up his pink shirt to reveal the round pink gemstone in the center of his stomach.  
Idocrase stared intently at the gemstone, which shined brightly amidst the glow of nearby lava.  
“...you’re Rose Quartz?...” the green gem asked confused  
Steven shook his head.  
“No, I’m not. I’m her son, Steven Universe. My mom gave up her form fourteen years ago so I could exist.”  
“So she’s actually gone...you weren’t lying…” Idocrase murmured.  
The rest of the gems now moved closer to Idocrase. All of them released their weapons into mere sparkles of light. Surely if this gem wanted to hurt them, she would have done so already.  
“Rose may be gone, but what she stood for continues to this day.” Pearl said  
“In the end, that’s what really matters.” Garnet added  
“And now you get to take part in it!” Amethyst exclaimed.  
A tiny smile slowly started to stretch across Idocrase’s face.  
“Thank you all...so much…” She muttered.  
Steven reached out and grabbed Idocrase’s wrist and started to pull on it lightly  
“Come on, I know some gems that you can live with!”  
Idocrase followed Steven as a door opened up in the wall. The warmth of the lava lit room behind them gave way to the sun filled house that Steven had lived in for most of his life. Idocrase had to shield her eyes from the intense change in light levels. When her eyes adjusted, she saw Steven standing in the center of the warp pad that lied in front of the doorway.  
“Come on!” Steven enthusiastically exclaimed.  
“O-Okay” Idocrase stammered as she stepped onto the warp pad.  
As soon as she stepped onto the raised platform, the surface began to glow with a pale blue light, which quickly grew in intensity and shot upwards, enveloping the pair as a feeling of weightlessness overtook them.  
“W-Where are we going?” Idocrase asked.  
“We’re going to the barn!”  
“What in the stars is a barn?”  
Idocrase felt something solid under her feet as a feeling of weight came back to her. The light of the warp stream faded, and Idocrase saw both her and Steven surrounded by a vast field of bright green grass.  
“That’s the barn!” Steven joyfully yelled as he started walking towards a large structure with red walls that were faded in some spots. The bed of a large truck was suspended above the open doorway, creating both a wide platform one could sit on and a welcoming shelter underneath.  
“So, who are these gems that i’m gonna be living with?”  
“Oh, They’re Peridot and Lapis Lazuli. Don’t worry, they’re super nice gems.”  
Steven turned towards the barn  
“Hey! Peridot! Lapis! I have someone I want you to meet!”  
Idocrase stood behind Steven as the sound of tiny feet hitting metal started to come from above. When Idocrase looked up at the source of the sound, she saw another gem with yellow triangular hair staring down at her from just over the ledge. A bright green gemstone rested on the top of her forehead behind a pale yellow visor.  
“Hey Steven! Who’s that?” the green gem waved down at the pair walking up to the barn  
“This is Idocrase. She needs a place to stay, and I was wondering if it was alright if she lived here with you and Lapis?”  
“Why can’t she live in your bathroom? I spent a while in there, and I turned out perfect.”  
“Peridot, I need to use the bathroom. Besides, she’s fresh off of homeworld. I thought she it would be good for her to be with gems who came to Earth recently.  
Peridot rubbed her thumb and forefingers against her pointed chin  
“I guess I don’t have a problem with her if Lapis doesn’t.”  
Steven looked around, now realizing that Lapis had yet to show herself  
“Hey, speaking of, where is Lapis?”  
“She told me that she was going to water the fields of crops, so she shouldn’t be out for more than a couple more minutes.”  
The short green gem grabbed a round, metal disk and kicked it off of the bed of the truck. Instead of falling, the disk hovered in the air. Peridot stepped onto it, not even causing the slightest shift in balance  
“How are doing that?” Idocrase asked as she stared at the disk in utter disbelief.  
Peridot looked down at Idocrase with the most smug grin Idocrase had ever seen as the disk slowly started to float down towards the ground.  
“You see Idocrase, I possess the ability to manipulate metal in any way I desire! My power is only limited by my incredible imagination!”  
“Wow, you must be incredibly powerful.”  
“Well, Not to brag or anything, but I have been a vital component to saving this planet on multiple occasions. The only reason this planet didn’t get completely obliterated by an enormous geo-weapon is because I was the only one who knew about it.”  
“She’s not entirely wrong.” Steven said.  
“Of course I’m not wrong! When have I ever been wrong?”  
Steven chuckled slightly as he remembered a few times where Peridot had been wrong about the lethality of bathroom equipment.  
“Exactly! Come on Idocrase, I’m gonna give you a tour of the barn!” Peridot exclaimed as she walked into the barn  
“A-Alright.” Idocrase said as she followed Peridot.  
“I guess I’ll catch you guys later then” Steven said as he turned around and started walking back towards the warp pad.  
Idocrase looked around at the light brown interior of the barn. The walls were covered in all sorts of strange decorations. A spire of warped and twisted metal sat in the back corner.  
“What’s that?” Idocrase asked, pointing at the strange spire.  
“Oh, that’s a Meep Morp.”  
“What does it do?”  
“It doesn’t really do anything except stand there and look weird”  
“But...why make it if it doesn’t have a purpose?”  
“And that, Idocrase is your first lesson about Earth, not everything has to be made with a purpose in mind.”  
“Is that right? Goodness, that seems like such a crazy Idea.” Idocrase muttered as she got closer to the sculpture, admiring all the different twists and sharp edges in the metal spire.  
“Oh! Idocrase! Lapis is back!”  
Idocrase looked towards the entrance of the barn just in time to see a gem with light blue skin be carried down by wide transparent wings of shimmering clear liquid. Peridot ran up to her as she landed, which kicked up a small amount of brown dirt from the ground. Idocrase followed the short green gem outside.  
“Lapis! We have a new barn mate!”  
Lapis looked Idocrase in her eyes. There was no hostility in her gaze, though it seemed to lack the outward friendliness that Peridot had.  
“I was only gone for a few minutes. When did she get here?”  
“I uh...I just got here. Peridot was showing me around. I’m Idocrase”  
“An Idocrase, huh? What brings you to Earth?”  
“I...Needed somewhere I could live. Homeworld didn’t exactly want me around anymore, it’s a long story.”  
“Well, Idocrase. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, We’ll let you stay here.”  
“Come on, we’re gonna make you a bed. You deserve a little space of your own, now that you’re living here with us.”  
“What’s a bed?” Idocrase asked, tilting her head  
“It’s somewhere you can lay down to rest. You should totally try sleeping, it’s amazing” Peridot said as she grabbed a loose piece of cloth and started tying it to the barn’s support beams.  
“And done! Go ahead and try it out.”  
Idocrase walked up to the suspended cloth, which dipped a lot near the center. Without much effort, She climbed in and flopped down in it. It sagged a little under Idocrase’s weight.  
“I-Is it supposed to do that? This feels weird.”  
“Ha! Homeworld wishes they had accommodations this good!” Peridot laughed  
“You’re not entirely wrong...This does beat the metal shelves they had us stand in.”  
“Trust me, Idocrase. You’ll get used to Earth and all of it’s strange quirks, and you’ll love it.”  
Idocrase stared up at the ceiling of the barn as she slowly started to rock back and forth.  
“I hope you’re right.”


	5. Gem's Night Out

Chapter 5

1 week later

“Hey Idocrase! Look what I found!”  
Idocrase leaned out of the makeshift hammock that Peridot had made for her and watched as Peridot hoisted up a grungy yellow bag that was covered in several layers of dust and cobwebs  
“What on Earth is that thing?” Idocrase asked  
“It’s a tent! You would know that if you watched Camp Pining Hearts.” Peridot huffed  
“I don’t know what that is, and I don’t know what this “Camping” is.”  
Peridot grumbled in frustration  
“Well you’re gonna learn today. Come on, we’re going camping!”  
Peridot marched outside and looked up at the truck that remained suspended above the doorway.  
“Hey Lapis! Idocrase and I are going camping! Wanna come with?”  
“Camping, huh? Alright, I’m up for it” Lapis said as she summoned her water wings and floated down to the ground gracefully.  
Peridot slung the tent’s grungy bag over her back and started to walk past Lapis, the bag barely avoided dragging along the ground as the short green gem walked.  
“Well? What are you two waiting for! Come on!” Peridot shouted.  
Idocrase walked out beside Lapis  
“Is she always like this?” Idocrase asked as they walked along  
“You’ll get used to it.” Lapis responded.  
The three gems walked for hours under the midday sun, passing through a field of knee high grass that extended farther than they could see. Each individual stalk bent and bowed to the soft breeze. As the three walked, they came across a large field of thickly stemmed plants that towered over the three gems. The tops were covered in several dozen golden petals that opened up wide, sort of resembling the bright sun in the sky.  
“What are these? They’re bigger than this grass stuff.” Idocrase asked as she gazed up at the strange plants that towered over her.   
“Those are Sunflowers, they’re really common around here.” Peridot said  
Idocrase glanced between the sunflowers and the bright ball of fire in the sky  
“I guess they do look pretty similar.”  
“You got that right”, Lapis chimed in.  
“These things just do the same things as grass? Just sit there and not move at all?”  
“Pretty much, though Steven told me that you can use them as a sign of appreciation towards someone.”   
“If that is the case…” Idocrase muttered as she brought her hand up to her gem, summoning a sai from it. She eyed up two of the large stalks as she swiped her sai, slicing through them as if they were paper. Her sai dissipated into light as the sunflowers hit the ground.   
“Then allow me to use these ‘sunflowers’ as a sign of appreciation. It really means a lot that there’s a place where gems won’t want to kill me because of my failures.” Idocrase smiled as she grabbed the flowers off of the ground and handed one to both Lapis and Peridot.  
“I mean, we’re all outcasts one way or another.” Peridot said as she took the large sunflower that Idocrase handed to her.  
Lapis nodded along in agreement.   
“We might as well tolerate one another, since we’re all in the same situation” she added  
Idocrase paused for a few moments.  
“So...do we continue onwards, or should we stop here?” she asked  
Peridot looked up at the sky and located the sun slowly starting to approach the horizon  
“we should start setting the tent up while we still have light to do it.” She said as she plopped the tent bag onto the ground and unzipped it.  
“Come on Idocrase, We’ll teach you how to set up a tent.”   
Lapis let out a slight chuckle.  
“Have you actually set up a tent before, Peridot?”  
“I’ve seen them do it on Camp Pining Hearts. How hard could it be?”  
Peridot dumped the bag onto the grass. From it spilled a huge rolled up cloth and several folded up rods that seemed to be connected to each other by a white string. The cloth, which was grayish in color, started to unroll as soon as it hit the ground.   
“What do we do with all this stuff?” Idocrase asked  
“First, we gotta roll out the tent, then we put the poles into these little...hook things, raise the poles into an arch, and we’re done!” Peridot said as she kicked the rest of the rolled up tent open.   
Idocrase started putting the rods together, ending up in flexible rods that were about nine feet in length. Once she was done, Idocrase looked back to Peridot and Lapis, who had just finished flattening the tent out.   
“So, what did you say we had to do with these, Peridot?”   
“Give me that end, we’re gonna put it through these hooks here to give the tent some support.” Peridot responded.  
Idocrase nodded in understanding before handing one of the pole’s ends to Peridot.  
“Observe and do what I do.” Peridot said.  
Peridot took the pole and started to snap it into the black plastic hooks. Idocrase followed her lead. Although she had some trouble snapping them into their proper places, she eventually started to get the hang of the best way to snap them in.  
“You two seem to be getting the hang of it. Need my help with anything?” Lapis asked  
“Hmm…If this is gonna be a realistic campsite, we’ll need a campfire. You wanna go get firewood?”  
Lapis stood up from her sitting position and summoned her watery wings.  
“Alright. I’ll be back soon.” She said before she took off into the skies. Idocrase only stared in awe as the blue gem flew away effortlessly.  
“Peridot? Can I ask you a question?”  
“Yeah, of course. What is it?”  
“How did you come to find yourself on Earth?”  
“Well, Yellow Diamond had an assignment. There was a giant geoweapon that they wanted to be checked up on. It was a job for only the best gems homeworld has to offer. So, naturally, they chose me to do it.” Peridot responded as she bent the pole to fit into the tiny pegs.  
“An assignment directly from the diamonds? That’s gotta be pretty important.”  
“Oh of course, And I totally succeeded in the mission.”  
“Then...Why are you still here?” Idocrase asked, confused.  
“Well, I may or may not have questioned her objectives, refused orders, and called her a Clod to her face.”  
Idocrase’s eyes went wide, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.  
“You Insulted Yellow Diamond and lived to tell the tale? That must have been pretty terrifying.”  
“Oh, it was, but it wasn’t anything I can’t handle!” Peridot said triumphantly as a huge smile stretched across her face.   
As Peridot’s attention shifted to boasting about her glorious achievement, the pole she was working to fasten came loose and snapped back at her. With the speed of a whip, it smacked little Peridot in the face, knocking her to the ground.  
“Oh my stars! Peridot, are you okay?”  
Peridot sat up rubbing her chin, where a dark green bruise was beginning to form  
“Yeah Yeah, I’m fine. Dang that stings…” Peridot muttered as she grabbed the pole and snapped it into place, which raised the tent up to completion.   
“Phew! Well, that’s finally done. Took us long enough, huh?” Peridot said as she walked around the tent, admiring their work.  
As Peridot finished looking at the tent, both Idocrase and Peridot heard the familiar sound of flapping wings from above. They both looked up and saw Lapis slowly floating down while hovering a huge ball of water. The water held all shapes and sizes of logs and sticks that danced and swirled around like they were on a turbulent river.   
“Look Lapis, I helped Peridot get the tent set up!” Idocrase called out.  
“We ran into a small bump while making it, but thanks to my amazing intuition, we assembled it with no other issues.” Peridot said smugly.   
Lapis landed on the ground, setting the logs beside her.   
“Wow, good job you two” Lapis said as she dispersed the water into the air.  
“Alright! Let’s get this campfire set up. It’s starting to get dark” peridot said  
“Oh, yeah. I guess you’d need dry firewood for that, right?   
Lapis waved her hands over the logs, twisting her fingers as she slowly raised it up. The motion pulled more water from the wood, making it crackle slightly as all the moisture had been drawn out of it. The water coalesced into the slightly cloudy liquid that hovered over Lapis, and with the flick of her wrist, the water carrened far into the brazen orange sky. It flew so far that Idocrase couldn’t see where it landed.   
“Thank you Lapis, now get me the tinderbox, Idocrase.” Peridot held out her hand to Idocrase, obviously expecting something.  
Idocrase stared at Peridot, not knowing what she was talking about.   
“Umm...What’s a tinderbox?” she asked  
“The tinderbox! You know, the thing that you use to make fires! I thought I told you to bring it.”  
“You didn’t tell her anything like that, Peridot. You just brought in the tent and said ‘Hey! Let’s go camping!’” Lapis interjected.   
“It’s not entirely my fault, you know. You could have brought the tinderbox too, lapis. You’ve seen enough Camp Pining Hearts to know we’d need it.”  
“You didn’t tell me that we’d be putting up a campfire!”  
“Well why did you go get firewood if you didn’t have the tinderbox?”  
“Because I thought you had it, Why would you ask me to get the firewood if you didn’t have a way to start it?”  
Both gems were starting to raise their voices considerably. Hearing them start to escalate into a shouting argument, Idocrase started to back away from the two of them. Her form curled up slightly, and her body seemed to move on its own. Idocrase turned around and started walking away from the two arguing gems. They didn’t even seem to notice that Idocrase was walking into the tall grass.   
Idocrase didn’t know how long she had been walking. She could have been walking away for minutes, she could have been running for hours, it all felt the same to her. In one moment the sky was bright violet, and the next the sky was a deep dark blue sheet that was stained with the lights of hundreds of thousands of stars and lit up by a full white moon, which barely helped illuminate the plain.  
“P-Peridot? Lapis?” Idocrase looked around while calling out.   
The only response she got was the quiet chirping of crickets. Surrounded by how lonely she felt, her knees buckled underneath her. She fell onto her back, looking up at the night sky through the grass that towered over her body. Tears began to roll down her face, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. All she felt she could do was stare up into the great blue blanket above as the moon slowly crawled across the sky.   
Idocrase laid in the grass for several hours before she heard a sound other than the crickets that sang around her. It was the sound of large wings flapping through the air. Idocrase sat up and started looking for the source of the sound. Sure enough, she saw the source of it, It was Lapis flying several dozen feet above the ground. A smile slowly crept across her face as she stood up.   
“L-Lapis!” Idocrase called out.  
“Idocrase! There you are!” Lapis responded as she landed next to Idocrase.  
“Where have you been? You’ve been gone for hours.” Lapis said with a stern expression on her face.  
Idocrase looked down for a few moments before lightly shaking her head.  
“I don’t even know where I was…I’m sorry.”  
Lapis’ expression changed slightly, becoming less stern and more concerned  
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Lapis asked  
Idocrase hesitated to answer, maybe even she didn’t know why she acted like this.  
“I-I don’t know...you and Peridot were yelling...and I didn’t know what to do…”  
“Hey. let’s walk back and talk about it, okay?’ Lapis said as she started walking.  
Idocrase soon joined Lapis by her side.  
“So, Peridot and I were arguing, and it was stressing you out, is that right?”  
“Y-yeah. You two have had smaller ones, but they never got that loud...the only time i’ve heard shouting like that was when I…” Idocrase stopped walking.  
Lapis turned around to look at Idocrase  
“When you were serving in that prison.”  
“Yeah...and only when we did something wrong...and we both know what happened next.”   
Lapis nodded in response.  
“I think I get it. But you should know that for what it’s worth, Peridot and I aren’t mad at you, or each other, for that matter.”  
Idocrase looked up at Lapis with a look of surprise  
“But...how is that possible, you both sounded so angry.”  
“We both were pretty angry, but I guess it’s one of the things you’ll have to learn how to get used to on Earth. Arguments happen sometimes, but they usually won’t end with you losing a friend, not unless it's about something really bad.”  
“...And what about tonight?”  
Lapis let out a small chuckle  
“Come on, it’s a tinderbox, it’s basically nothing. We didn’t come on a camping trip to have a campfire, we came to have a good time.”  
“You sure that the argument didn’t make this trip worse?”  
“Well, it will certainly make this trip hard to forget, that’s for sure.”  
Idocrase let out a sigh of relief  
“Thank you Lapis...you know, both for finding me and making me feel better about tonight.  
“It’s no problem at all, really. If that’s all you want to talk about, want to fly back? It’ll be much quicker.”  
Idocrase thought on the proposition for a few seconds before giving her answer  
“Yeah, why not?”  
“Alright, but you’d better hold on tight. Oh, and raise your hands above your head”  
Idocrase did so, extending her arms and hands straight above her head  
“How’s this?”  
“Good, now just relax.”  
Lapis summoned the translucent wings made of water from her gem. With a single beat of the wings, she flew straight up into the air. Lapis flew in a loop, quickly reaching a peak before she started to descend behind Idocrase. In a quick motion, Lapis flew over Idocrase, grabbing her by the wrists and lifting her off the ground. As soon as Idocrase’s feet left the ground, her hands instinctively clutched onto Lapis’s wrists, securing the two together as they started to ascend.   
Idocrase looked down at the ground as they rose higher still. The individual blades of grass blurred together as they rushed past.   
“This is incredible…” Idocrase muttered to herself as she felt the cold night wind flowing around her entire body.  
The two gems traveled for merely a few minutes, but those minutes felt like heaven to Idocrase. The feeling of soaring higher than any trees around them, faster than her legs could ever carry her.   
“Alright Idocrase, we’re here.” Lapis said as she began to descend and slow down  
Sure enough, Idocrase looked down and saw the tent that her and Peridot had set up a few hours earlier, as well as Peridot herself sitting on one of the logs that Lapis brought back.  
“Hey! You’re back!” Peridot called out as Idocrase and Lapis slowly floated to the ground.  
“Yup, we are.” Lapis responded as she unsummoned the watery wings.   
“Excellent! Sit on a log and we’ll tell spooky stories all night! You’re in for a treat Idocrase, Lapis tells some really good ones”  
“She’s right, I do.” Lapis said as she sat down on a different dark brown log.   
With a smile, Idocrase sat down on the last remaining log and listened to the multiple gem chilling tales that both Lapis and Peridot had to share while the moon and stars continued their journey across the deep dark blue sky.


	6. Something New

Chapter 6

The next morning

The three gems walked back to the barn as the sun began to crest over the horizon. Lapis and Peridot still holding onto the bright yellow sunflowers that Idocrase gave them both  
“Well, I think I can say for sure that this camping trip was a resounding success!” Peridot exclaimed.  
“You can say that again.” Idocrase said, hoisting the tent’s bag over her shoulder  
“So what do you say, Idocrase. Now that you know what camping is, are you gonna watch Camp Pining Hearts?”  
Idocrase dwelled on the idea for a few moments.  
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”  
“Great! I’ll go get the television set up!” Peridot shouted as she ran into the barn.  
“What about you Lapis, will you join us?   
Lapis shrugged.  
“I’m down for it, it’ll be fun to rewatch the series from the beginning.”  
“So, how does this ‘television show’ work? Is it some sort of record keeping thing?”  
“It sorta is. There’s a lot of different kinds of television, Camp Pining Hearts just tells a fictional story. None of it’s real.”  
“But...if it didn’t really happen, why watch it?”  
“Because it’s fun, fun to see how the characters play off each other.”  
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the warp pad activating and a pillar of blue light shooting towards the sky. Both Lapis and Idocrase turned around to see the pillar light up the sky for a few seconds before fading, leaving Garnet and Steven standing on top of the warp pad.  
“Wonder why they’re here.” Idocrase said as she watched Steven jump off the warp pad.  
“Only one way to find out, right?” Lapis asked as she started walking towards Steven and Garnet  
“Hey Steven, what’s going on?” Lapis asked as Steven walked quickly towards them, followed by Garnet.  
Steven walked up to Idocrase and wrapped his arms in a hug around her, taking Idocrase by surprise.   
“We wanted to check up on you, Idocrase. It’s been a week and I wanna know how you’re holding up.”  
Idocrase wrapped her arms around Steven’s shorter, stouter body in a loose hug. A smile stretched across her face as Steven released the hug and looked her in her dark green eyes.   
“I really do love it here. Lapis and Peridot have been really nice to me so far.”  
“Yeah, in fact, we just got back from a camping trip. We all had a good time.” Lapis said  
“I’m sure you’ll be able to tell us all about it later.” Garnet said as she adjusted her glasses, a small twinkle quickly danced across the reflective surface of her shades.   
Idocrase looked up at Garnet and started to remember the circumstances of their last encounter, and how she had attacked her. Idocrase opened her mouth to speak, but before she should get a word out, Garnet spoke.  
“Steven, give us a bit of privacy. Idocrase and I are going to have a little talk.”  
Steven turned around and up at his three eyed gem companion. He could feel deep down, Idocrase would be safe, though he couldn’t shake the slight feeling of uneasiness that made his heart drop slightly.  
“Okay...just please don’t be too hard on her?...” Steven trailed off, and started walking away, with Lapis following behind him.   
Garnet and Idocrase stood looking at each other. Garnet’s stern, unchanging visage unnerved Idocrase, making her shudder slightly. The slight shaking in her body moved to a shakiness in her voice.  
“...About what happened when we first met...I’m sorry for attacking you like that.” Idocrase started, the shaking in her voice grew as she continued to speak of the incident. Her gaze shifted to the ground, finding herself unable to look Garnet in the eyes.  
“I wasn’t thinking at all, a-and I was scared because of what I heard, a-and I--”  
Garnet interrupted Idocrase by placing a hand on Idocrase’s shoulder. Idocrase immediately looked up at Garnet, expecting to see the same stern look she saw before. But instead of seeing the stoic expression, Idocrase saw a small smile on Garnet's face.  
“It’s okay Idocrase. I forgive you for that”  
“Y-you do?”  
Garnet softly nodded in response  
“I want to talk about what happened on that day, and I want you to know that none of us have any hard feelings against you for what you did.”  
Idocrase paused for a few moments, thinking back to the fight, and how quick it felt to her. She shook her head lightly as she spoke again.  
“What is there to talk about? I attacked you, and you beat me like I was nothing.”  
Garnet let a small chuckle escape her lips.  
“You’re far from being nothing, Idocrase.”  
“Yeah? And how’s that?”  
“In our fight, after I threw you against a tree, and you ran at me. You were noticeably faster after you got hurt.”  
Idocrase looked past Garnet and off into the distance, thinking back to those moments of physical duress. Those moments felt like such a blur, maybe Garnet was telling the truth?  
“You really think so, huh?”  
Garnet nodded  
“If you don’t know the extent of this ability that you have, the Crystal Gems would be more than happy to help you figure it out.”  
“Hmm. I might have to take you up on that offer sometime. Not right now, obviously, but sometime soon, maybe.”  
Idocrase looked up at Garnet’s glasses, remembering the brief moment where she got to see what was behind them. Even though she could not directly see the three eyes looking at her, she knew that they were there, and what it probably meant for what Garnet was.   
“The temple is always open to you, Idocrase.”  
Garnet turned around to leave before she felt a tug on her arm.   
“Wait...There’s something else I want to ask you…”  
Garnet turned back to Idocrase, the smile that was on her face before grew just a bit bigger as Idocrase suggested learning more.  
“Sure thing.”  
Idocrase hesitated to speak, afraid that her question might anger Garnet somehow, or make her want to leave.   
“...You’re a fusion, right?” Idocrase asked in a hushed voice.  
Garnet looked down at Idocrase, noticing the nervousness in her voice. Garnet slowly sat down and patted the grassy ground beside her, making a request for Idocrase to sit down beside her. The green gem accepted the request and sat down beside Garnet. Idocrase’s slouched and slightly curled up posture was dwarfed by Garnet’s, who sat with her legs crossed and back straight, which made her look confident and strong.   
“I am, though I imagine that homeworld has taught you a few things about fusions like me.”  
Idocrase looked away, almost not wanting to tell Garnet about the dogma that homeworld had taught her.  
“...They’ve taught me that fusions like you are abominations and freaks who wanted to see homeworld burn and every gem that disagreed with you slaughtered.”  
“I hope it’s clear that those were just lies.”  
“Yeah, but if those were lies, why would you fuse?”  
“You can fuse for any number of reasons. You could fuse to protect someone, or to become stronger than the sum of your parts, but Ruby and Sapphire fused out of love for one another to form me.”  
Idocrase looked up at Garnet in astonishment.  
“You’re kidding me, a Ruby and a Sapphire fusing? How does that happen?”  
“It’s a long story, but all you need to know about it is that Sapphire was in danger, and Ruby saved her.”  
“Still, that’s a huge difference in purpose. One of them can see the outcome of a major battle, the other is just an expendable soldier. I don’t understand...was it an accident?”  
“The fusion itself was an accident, but the feelings were real and purposeful. That’s all that really matters in the end.”  
Idocrase thought to herself about what Garnet just said, about the feelings behind a fusion, and the short story that Garnet told about her origin.   
“Fusion sounds so...comforting…” Idocrase muttered as she looked up at the bright blue sky with an occasional white wispy cloud.  
“I just wish that I could feel what it’s like…”  
“If only there was someone who would be willing to fuse with you.” Garnet said, holding back a slight chuckle.  
“Yeah...You think Peridot would be willing to fuse?”  
“Probably not, but I would be more than happy to.”  
Idocrase quickly looked up at Garnet in surprise, nearly falling onto her back.  
“A-Are you serious? Me fusing with you?!” Idocrase exclaimed, barely being able to contain her shock at the idea.  
Garnet stood up and held out her hand to Idocrase, who was still on the ground. Idocrase eagerly took Garnet’s hand and pulled herself up.  
“So, how do we begin?”  
Garnet stepped backwards, putting a few feet of distance between her and Idocrase. “We begin by dancing.” Garnet said   
Idocrase froze at the Garnet’s response, she didn’t know what dancing was, much less how to do it. She stood with her hands stuck to her side like they were shackled there. She wanted so desperately to experience fusion, but she couldn’t help but stare at the ground out of embarrassment.  
“Idocrase, you don’t have to feel afraid.” Garnet calmly said, putting a hand on Idocrase’s shoulder.  
Idocrase looked up at Garnet, and saw her reflection in the glasses  
“Wh-what do you mean?  
“Fusion isn’t like fighting, or like following orders. Fusion is a unique experience for everyone. You just have to find what feels natural for you to do.”  
Garnet had a soft smile on her face that comforted Idocrase, making her relax  
“O-Okay...but how do I find that?”  
Garnet rubbed her chin, thinking for a few seconds before responding.  
“Wait here, I’ll be right back.”  
Garnet walked into the barn, leaving Idocrase alone in the field. Idocrase wondered what Garnet was doing, or what she might bring back. The words that Garnet said, about fusion not being like having to follow an order, those words felt comforting coming from Garnet. Her thoughts were interrupted by Garnet calling out to her.  
“Here, this should help.” Garnet said as she lifted a small black box with speakers on the side.   
Garnet set the box on the ground and pressed one of several gray buttons that ran along the top. As soon as she did, music started to play from it. The music sounded upbeat, full of energy, and had all sorts of sounds that Idocrase had never heard before. Someone in the song was singing about music, how it was a world of its own, and a language everyone could understand. As she listened to the music, Idocrase felt something, a part of her moving in a way that she didn’t recognize. She looked down and saw her tapping her feet at the ground in sync with the music.  
“W-Woah, Is this what dancing is?” Idocrase asked in a hushed tone.  
Idocrase looked up at Garnet, who was nodding her head at the same rhythm that Idocrase was tapping her foot.  
“Looks like you’ve got something. Keep going.” Garnet said.   
Feeling encouraged by the fusion, Idocrase closed her eyes and let the music flow through her, use her as a puppet of sorts. She felt her body move in ways that she had not experienced before. She felt her arms performing quick sweeping motions before snapping them back towards her body and doing a slide to her next position. She felt a slight warmth in her chest as she opened her eyes to Garnet’s own dancing. Garnet’s dancing was more practiced. She stepped forward to the beat of the song, first moving her arms in large slow circles before striking a pose. Though she didn’t stop at the one, each pose and movement flowed into the next like a river down a steep hill. While each movement was quick, every pose Garnet struck was pronounced and distinct.   
The two gems slowly but surely made their way towards each other. The gems that resided in the center of Garnet’s hands began to glow. Though Idocrase couldn’t see her gemstone giving off a green light, she could feel a growing sense of warmth and security. Garnet reached out to Idocrase, which Idocrase accepted by placing her hand within Garnet’s, their fingers interlocking perfectly. As soon as Garnet’s hand grasped Idocrase’s, the larger gem slowly pulled Idocrase to her front. As if Idocrase caught her own small glimpse of the future, Idocrase extended her arm and grasped Garnet’s other hand with her own. As soon as their hands made contact, Idocrase looked up at Garnet in shock. She did it, she danced for the first time, and it felt amazing. Garnet had a soft smile on her face for the split second that they stood together.   
Both of their bodies suddenly became surrounded in a bright white light. Their forms twisted and merged together, becoming one single, large form. Immediately the mass of light had no clear form besides a large blob that was quickly growing taller and wider. the form slowly began to take a vaguely humanoid shape before the light jumped from the form like sparks of fire jumping from a torch. The new fusion that remained stood much taller than Garnet or Idocrase. She opened her eyes, then her second pair of eyes right underneath the first pair.   
“W-Woah, this feels weird.” Her voice sounded much deeper than what either Garnet or Idocrase would have normally expected, catching her off guard for a few moments.  
She brought her hands up to feel her new facial features, but as her hands came into her view, she saw two separate pairs of hands enter her sight. Each pair of hands was attached at the elbows, with one forearm on each side had a bright red sleeve while the other had a green sleeve. She opened her hands to look at the palms, and in the middle of her dark cinnamon toned hands laid two deep brown gemstones.  
“I-It worked…” she whispered to herself.  
“I didn’t have any doubts...but still, this feels incredible!”  
She looked down to get a closer look at the incredible new body she inhabited. The first thing she noticed was the bright red dress that reached down to just above her knees. It was strange, because the dress looked layered, like it was the same piece of cloth wrapped around her body, giving it the appearance of petals of a flower that just started to open. Right in the middle of her waist was a large dark green wrapping that separated the dress into two halves. Below the dress she saw two strong brown legs supporting herself, with dark green boots that hugged her calves up to just below her knees.   
“I-Im not Garnet or Idocrase anymore, am I? No, I'm someone new, but who?”  
She put her hands on her head to think, running her hands through what felt through a thick wavy mess of hair. All the while her second pair of arms merely crossed themselves in front of her.   
“Come on, name, name, what’s my name?”  
She started to pace back and forth, her footsteps fell heavy onto the soft grass, leaving behind indented footprints until the thought of her name escaped her lips.  
“Axinite…Yes, that’s it. My name is Axinite!” She belted out.   
Axinite got excited at the mere action of saying her own name. Without even thinking, she wrapped all four of her arms around herself and started to spin in circles, quickly spinning faster and faster as she started to giggle. The giggle turned into full on laughter as Axinite lost her balance and fell flat onto her back, making a loud thud as her body impacted. From there she rolled around for a few more seconds before relaxing and letting out sigh filled with both relief and excitement. She looked up at the bright sky and watched as the clouds slowly floated across the sky.   
“This...this feels really nice, I see why Ruby and Sapphire choose to live like Garnet. I feel so safe and strong and…”  
She struggled to put the thought she had into words, but a part of her knew, and finished the thought for her.  
“Like I’m wanted and cared about…”   
Axinite laid in the grass and let her mind wander while listening to the rest of the song as it played out. As the song slowly faded to silence, Axinite felt a sort of lurching feeling in her chest, like her body was trying to go in two different directions at once.   
“...I guess this means we’re unfusing, huh?”  
Her body began to glow brightly for several seconds, until the form split in two. After the light faded, Garnet and Idocrase were left lying next to each other, staring up at the sky like they did when they were fused moments ago. Idocrase couldn’t explain exactly why, but she felt tears welling up in her eyes, not from sadness or pain, but from pure bliss.   
“Th-Thank you...so much, Garnet.”  
Garnet turned to look at Idocrase with a smile on her face.  
“Thank you for being open to trying it.”  
Idocrase stayed looking up at the sky, and let out a sigh, then turned to meet Garnet’s gaze.   
“Is that why Rose Quartz rebelled against Homeworld? So gems could experience that feeling with each other?”  
“There was more to it than that, but it was a big part of it.”  
“I bet it’s a real long story, huh?”  
“I can save it for another time, if you’d like.”  
“Yeah, I’d like that...fusing like that for the first time just really took my energy away.”  
Garnet sat up and turned to look at the barn behind them.   
“I’ll let you get some rest, but be sure to stop by the temple sometime.”  
“I will.” Idocrase said with a light nod.   
“See you later, Garnet.”  
“See you Later, Idocrase”.   
Garnet stood up and walked to the barn, and a mere moments later, she walked out with Steven by her side. Idocrase watched as Garnet and Steven walked side by side. Steven seemed to be ecstatic about something, perhaps he saw the two of them fuse. For a brief moment, it looked like Steven wanted to walk over to her, but was stopped by Garnet putting a hand on his shoulder. The two continued onto the warp pad, stopping to wave good-bye to Idocrase before the pale blue light of the warp stream surrounded them.


	7. Finding limits

Chapter 7

The temple sat quiet and still as a pale blue pillar of light erupted from the warp pad. A single tall thin figure floated down onto the platform before the light faded, revealing Idocrase as she started to look around the temple.  
“Okay Garnet, I’m ready to--”  
The announcement of her arrival was cut short when she realized that she saw no one in the room with her.  
“Hello? Garnet? Steven?”  
No response.  
“Huh...Where is everyone?”  
Idocrase stepped off of the warp pad and walked into the house portion of the temple. She looked around, there was no sign of life anywhere in the structure. Now that she thought about it, it was the first time she was able to walk around in here. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to look around, right? She walked forward and looked at the comfortable open space in the house. It struck Idocrase as different than the cluttered floor of the barn. Her attention was then drawn to the area that was separated from the rest of the house by a small countertop. She walked into the countered off area and looked at the large white box, which was flush with the wall it was nestled into. She stopped in front of it and stared at it, it was just barely taller than she was, with two doors on top of each other.  
“Now what is this?...” She said as she reached for the handle on the lower door and pulled it open.  
Idocrase was immediately hit by a blast of cold air as the door swung open. Inside she saw several shelves full of objects she’d never seen before. The biggest being a huge jug, which looked to be half full of some sort of white liquid. On the shelf beneath it was a huge collection of brightly colored spheres, some orange, some yellow, but a large number of them were red. Curious about their nature, Idocrase reached into the cold box and pulled out one of the red round objects. As she wrapped her fingers around it,It felt extremely firm in her hand. Idocrase pulled it out to get a better look at this strange object. Despite looking completely red, once she got a closer look, she could see tiny little white spots covering its exterior.   
“Woah...whatever this thing is, it looks pretty cool. I wonder if it’s red all the way through.”  
Idocrase brought her free hand to the back of her neck and pulled out a sai. With a single thrust, she pierced its exterior and continued until the sai’s point pierced out the other side, and with a single motion, she split it in half, revealing a nearly perfect white interior. Near the middle were several dark brown grains. They sort of reminded Idocrase of those sunflower’s “seeds” as Peridot called them. The smell of this strange object’s interior quickly hit Idocrase’s nose. It wasn’t that powerful of an aroma, but it smelled sweet. Satisfied by this discovery, she set the split red and white object back in the frigid box. And walked back towards the center of Steven’s house. She looked around at what to possibly explore next until her attention was drawn to the large teal colored door behind the warp pad. She walked closer to inspect it, and saw the door has a star shaped insignia with a small colored circle in each of the points. Clearly each dot represented one of the inhabitants.   
“I wonder if…”  
Idocrase placed her hand on the door and started to push on it, hoping it would give way. The door didn’t budge, so Idocrase pushed on it harder, now using both hands. Still, the door made no movement. That was until a white line split down the middle and glided open.   
“W-Woah!”   
Idocrase yelped out in surprise as her weight carried her forward into Pearl and Amethyst, who were just walking through the door. All three of them fell to the ground with a massive clatter.  
“O-Oh my stars! I'm so sorry!” Idocrase shouted out as she clammered to her feet.  
“Idocrase? What are you doing here?!” Pearl asked out of surprise  
Amethyst and Pearl slowly got to their feet, still surprised as the unexpected visitor. Idocrase took a few steps back to give the two gems time to walk out from the doorway, and to give them some space.  
“Garnet told me to come by sometime, so I could figure out the extent of my powers.”  
“So you took that to mean coming by and trying to get into places you’re not meant to be.” Pearl muttered, annoyed   
“Awe, come on P. I don’t think she was gonna do anything bad, were you, Idocrase?”  
“N-No, I’ve just never had a chance to really look around in here.”  
“See? She just wanted to look around. If she wanted to start breaking stuff in here, she would have done so already.”  
“I mean, I guess I could. That’s sorta the reason I'm here. I don’t really have any idea how strong I can be.”  
“Well, that’s certainly something we can find out.” Pearl responded  
“Aww yeah, does this mean we get to fight her?” Amethyst asked excitedly  
Idocrase immediately took a step back as her eyes widened slightly, shocked at Amethyst’s proposal. The thought of having to fight either Amethyst or Pearl, or both, made Idocrase freeze.   
“Heavens no! There’s too many ways that any of us could get hurt, or worse.”  
Idocrase let out a sigh of relief, she wouldn’t have to fight either of them.   
“So, how are we going to test my abilities then?” She asked  
“Well Idocrase, we’re going to--”  
Before Pearl could finish her response to the question, the front door opened. Steven walked though, holding a small box of overly crispy french fry bits. Amethyst immediately jogged towards him.  
“Hey Steven, We’re just about to go and see just how strong Idocrase is, want to come watch?”  
Steven’s expression lit up at the idea, though Pearl’s expression shifted to that of slight irritation. It was clear to Idocrase that Pearl didn’t care much for being interrupted.   
“Yeah, sure, as long as no one’s getting hurt.”  
Pearl cleared her throat in an effort to get everyone’s attention.  
“Ahem! If everyone could come over onto the warp pad, I'll explain what we’re going to be doing when we arrive.”  
Pearl stepped onto the warp pad, quickly followed by Idocrase, seeing as how they were already close together.  
“Come on Steven!” Amethyst said excitedly as she jumped onto the warp pad beside Idocrase.  
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Steven chuckled as he walked over and stepped onto the warp pad.   
The warp pad glowed with a pale blue light before erupting upward into the air. While within the warp stream, Idocrase shot a quick glance over to Pearl. It was a weird feeling for Idocrase, to see a gem she once kept as a prisoner was now standing beside her as not an enemy, but as an ally. Pearl noticed the glance for a moment and returned the glance. As soon as Idocrase and Pearl shared the glance, Idocrase immediately turned away.   
Mere moments after looking away, Idocrase could feel the warp stream coming to a stop, along with feeling solid ground underneath her feet. When the light of the warp pad faded, Idocrase immediately saw the diamond’s insignia on a massive white stoned wall in front of her.  
“Here we are, the Sky Arena.” Pearl exclaimed.  
Idocrase felt a breeze from behind her as she focused on her surroundings. She turned around and instantly saw the great blue sky expand all around her field of view. Extending endlessly in every direction, even downward.  
“Come on Idocrase.” Idocrase heard Steven call.   
Idocrase turned around once again to see Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst making their way up a beautiful set of white stone stairs. She joined them as she looked towards the top to see what the stairs led too. At the top of the stairs Idocrase saw the entrance to a hallway that was filled with sunlight. Idocrase stared at the gem architecture. The style looked new to her, but time had claimed much of the finer details and replaced them with cracks of stone. The time that Idocrase had lost to the black hole was hard to visualize, but this arena put that time to scale.  
“I really have been gone for a long time…haven’t I?” Idocrase muttered  
Pearl paused and looked back down towards Idocrase, who was still looking at the faded stonework.  
“Hey Pearl, you two coming?” Amethyst called back over her shoulder.  
“Give us a moment.” Pearl responded  
Amethyst shrugged slightly.  
“If you say so. Come on Steven, let’s go get our front row seats.”  
Amethyst and Steven entered the hallway. The sounds of their footsteps getting further and further away, until they left Pearl and Idocrase in silence.  
“Pearl, you were the one who escaped. Did you even recognize me when the four of you found me in the woods?” Idocrase asked, not even bothering to make eye contact with Pearl.   
“Not at first, But I slowly started to piece together who you were.”  
“5,500 years, is that what it takes for you to forget?”  
“...I'm not sure I understand.”  
Idocrase stood in silent contemplation for a few moments, she felt her fists start to clench tightly as she quickly looked up to Pearl. Her brow furrowed heavily as her quick glance turned into an intense stare.   
“How do you not? They’re all dead, every Idocrase is dead because of what you did.” Idocrase shouted as she pointed up to the pale gem at the top of the staircase.  
“Because of what you did, I lost everything that I had!” she cried out as tears started to form in her eyes and run down her face.  
Pearl was taken aback by the sudden outburst. Her eyes went wide with shock.  
“Don’t you dare try and blame me for what happened.” Pearl muttered as she slowly started to descend the stone stairs towards Idocrase.  
“I wasn’t in an easy situation either. If Rose didn’t break me out of there, none of this would be here! The rebellion would have failed, everyone Rose fought for would have died. There was no way Rose and I could have known that breaking me out would cause what happened. We’re not to blame, General Amber is. She’s the one who gave the order for you all to be shattered.”  
By now Pearl had made her way down to the steps that Idocrase resided on. Idocrase’s shouting had now left her, leaving her slightly slouched over, Pearl could see the occasional tear fall from the green gem’s face and onto the stonework. It was clear to Pearl that she wasn’t saying what she was saying out of malice, but out of confusion.  
“She only gave the order because you escaped.” Idocrase was barely able to choke out.   
“You’re wrong. General Amber is a cruel, cruel gem. She probably had plans to get rid of you, but was just looking for a reason.”  
Idocrase barely looked up from the floor, not even meeting Pearl’s gaze, moreso looking at her knees.   
“You’re right...I mean, why would anyone keep me around? There’s always someone better than me anyway.” she downheartedly muttered  
“We don’t live by the same rules as Homeworld. No one is better than anyone else here.”  
Idocrase slowly looked up at Pearl, making eye contact with her.  
“You mean to tell me that here on Earth, even a Diamond can be seen as equal to a weak and pathetic gem like me?”  
Pearl reached out to Idocrase and placed a hand on her shoulder.  
"Well, no." Pearl said, her voice not angry or sarcastic, but sincere.  
"Why would you ever hold yourself to the standards of a tyrannical dictator bent on mass genocide?" She smiled at Idocrase, "They would be lucky to hold a candle to a gem like you."  
Idocrase continued her gaze at Pearl, but now her eyes had a small amount of comfort behind them.  
“Y-You really mean that?” Idocrase asked.  
“Of course I mean it. And if you’re worried about being weak, that’s exactly what we’re here to find out, if you think you’re still up for it, of course.”  
Idocrase slowly nodded as she started to wipe away the drying tears in the corner of her eyes and on her cheeks.  
“Yeah, I can do this…” she muttered as she started to climb the stairs once again.  
Pearl followed Idocrase’s ascent up the white stairs. When Idocrase reached the top, she slowly walked forward into the light filled hallway. As her eyes adjusted to the light, her breath was taken away for a few moments as she laid eyes on the large arena. Even though half of it probably crumbled centuries ago, what remained was much bigger than any structure Idocrase had seen before. A long staircase extended down towards the bottom of the arena. Both sides of the staircase were lined with a few dozen rows of seats. She stared for a few moments before Pearl passed by and started down the stairs.  
“Wow…” Idocrase trailed off.  
“You should have seen this place in its prime, it was truly a magnificent sight to behold.” Pearl said, turning back slightly.  
Idocrase stood still for a few moments, imagining how big the arena must have been before it started collapsing. It was already well over a hundred wide, and it already felt massive. She slowly started down the stairs, not even noticing that Amethyst and Steven were sitting at the bottom row until she passed by them and walked into the middle of the arena, where Pearl was standing.  
“For this test, instead of fighting me, you will be fighting my Holo-pearl.” Pearl said as the gem on her forehead lit up.   
From Pearl’s gem emerged a blue light that took a form nearly identical to Pearl’s. The only major difference between the two of them was that his pearl was bright blue, though slightly translucent. This new pearl was holding a sword upright and standing as still as a statue.   
“A...Holo-Pearl?...” Idocrase asked, confused  
“That’s right. A Holo-Pearl. We’re going to have you fight against it. Every hit you land will make it increase in difficulty, and at the end, it’ll give you an assessment of your combat abilities.”  
“And what if it lands a hit on me?” Idocrase asked.  
“Oh trust me, it won’t. We learned from that mistake a while ago. If it would be able to hit you, it will stop before the blade makes contact.”  
Idocrase nodded at Pearl’s reassurance and summoned her pair of sais to her hand.  
“Okay, I'm ready.” Idocrase said.  
“Woohoo! Go Ido!” Amethyst called from the sidelines.  
Pearl nodded, and with a small tone, the Holo-Pearl slid into a fighting stance, pointing the sword towards Idocrase slightly. It then slowly thrusted the sword towards her.   
“Thrust!” it shouted, telegraphing its attack heavily.  
Idocrase easily sidestepped and swiped her sai upwards, phasing right through the Pearl. Its eyes lit up with a faint green light and made a dinging noise before turning to Idocrase. It swung its sword in a wide arch quickly through the air towards Idocrase’s chest  
“W-Woah!” she yelped out.  
She expected it to get harder, of course, but she would give at least a slight pause before doing so. The swing caught her off guard for a moment, causing her to step backwards. The Holo-Pearl stepped forward and swung the sword downwards, aiming for the head. Idocrase was able to react in time, catching the sword within the prongs of her sai. With her free hand, Idocrase thrust her sai into the holo-pearl’s midsection.  
The holo-pearl’s eyes lit up green once again, Idocrase took this moment to step back and ready herself for the next strike. The holo pearl then lept towards her, much quicker than before, but Idocrase was ready. She sidestepped like before to dodge the sword as it stabbed into the ground, and Idocrase slashed her sai at the Holo-Pearl again, expecting another easy hit. Idocrase’s sai was met by the blade of the Holo-Pearl’s sword. It was definitely moving faster than before. The Holo-Pearl stepped back, and started to do quick thrusts towards Idocrase, who was barely managing to deflect the blows with her sais. She then saw her moment when the Holo-Pearl did another thrust towards her head. In response to this, Idocrase quickly raised her sai so that the sword’s blade slipped in between the prongs, and quickly twisted the sai to lock it in place. She went in for another strike, but was caught off guard by the Holo-Pearl releasing her grip on the sword and doing a flip over Idocrase. The sudden motion threw Idocrase off balance, and sent her tumbling forward. The sword, Idocrase, and her sais were sent clattering to the ground. As Idocrase hit the ground, she felt an intense and deep pain suddenly stab into the side of her stomach.   
The shock of the sudden pain hit her, causing her to let out a shriek of pain. She looked down and saw her own sai piercing her body. As soon as she saw the sai in her gut, she looked at the Holo Pearl and saw it frozen in place like it had been paused.  
“Idocrase!” Steven called out as he stood up from his seat.  
“Steven, Hold on.” Pearl raised her arm to motion Steven to slow down.  
“Do you need me to stop the test?” Pearl asked.  
Idocrase’s form flickered apart slightly before it pulled itself back together.  
“N-No...I can do this!” Idocrase yelled out.  
Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven all shared an apprehensive look with each other.  
“If you say so…” Pearl muttered as she unpaused the Holo-Pearl. Idocrase looked over and saw the false Pearl materialize a new sword and leap into the air. Idocrase grabbed a hold of the sai in her side. She didn’t like what she was about to do, but she knew that she had to. Idocrase gritted her teeth and pulled out the sai in her gut and rolled onto her back. She saw the Holo-Pearl falling towards her, though falling slower than she originally thought. She used her sai to catch the sword and lock it in place like she had done before, though being caught on her back presented a new challenge. The Holo-Pearl was slowly pressing the sword down towards Idocrase’s chest. Slowly but surely, the sword stopped lowering itself. Was it getting easier to push the sword back? No, surely Pearl had lowered the difficulty somehow. She kept pushing back, keeping it locked in place, until she started to push the sword back up towards the illusory Pearl. The Holo-Pearl grabbed the sword with her both hands and tried to push down harder on the sword.  
“N-N-No you don’t!” Idocrase coughed as she summoned a second sai to her hand.   
She slammed her second sai into the Holo-Pearl’s sword and pushed it to the side, disarming the pearl completely. Idocrase clammered to her feet as the Holo-Pearl leaped back and summoned another sword to its hand and started doing several thrusts towards Idocrase. Though these ones seemed a lot slower, almost as slow as the thrust when the fight began. Surely Pearl lowered the difficulty. Idocrase sidestepped the stabs once again. It was strange, for those few moments, Idocrase was almost able to ignore the agony in her side, almost. She was just trying to find the strength to finish this round.  
“HAAAAAAAAA!” Idocrase yelled out as she thrust her sai into the Holo-Pearl’s head.  
Instead of the holo-pearl’s eyes glowing green once again, it just stopped, as if it was paused. Idocrase stood trembling, her grip on the sai weakened, causing her to drop it. She stumbled backwards, falling on her behind. The pain in her side quickly returned, and she clenched her side tightly.  
“O-Ow ow ow ow…” she muttered.  
Steven rushed to her side  
“Don’t worry,I’ll fix you up in a jiffy.” Steven said as he slowly pulled Idocrase’s hand away from her wound.  
Steven licked his hand, leaving a large trail of saliva that sparkled slightly in the sunlight. He then placed his hand on the deep wound. The area immediately began to glow and sparkle as the wound slowly began to close.  
“Woah...that’s amazing” Idocrase muttered as she watched what was a deep wound slowly get smaller and smaller until it was no longer present.  
Idocrase stood up, with a little bit of help from Steven.  
“So, how did I do?” Idocrase asked, looking to Pearl.  
Amethyst leaped from her seat before Pearl could answer.  
“You were awesome!” Amethyst yelled  
“Well, Awesome might be a bit of a stretch. Your technique could use a little bit of refinement, but your persistence after sustaining an injury like that is quite admirable.” Pearl commented  
“When you say that my technique could use refinement, you were referring too...what exactly?” Idocrase pondered.  
Pearl’s gem glowed momentarily before shining a bright blue light onto the white floor of the colosseum. The light showed a still image of the fight that took place moments ago. The image showed Idocrase in the moments right before she fell on top of her sai.   
“Here, you could have either unsummoned your sai or thrown it away before you hit the ground so you wouldn’t have fallen on it.” Pearl explained jovially. She started speaking again, albeit in a quieter, more methodical tone, like she was going through a plan out loud.   
“Although, getting injured like that certainly did improve your reaction time, your speed, and the power of your strikes significantly. Garnet was definitely right about that.”  
Pearl returned to her brighter tone of speaking from moments before.  
“Regardless, you performed well in the combat test. dare I say, almost as good as I would have done, Almost.”   
“Does this mean that Idocrase can come on missions with us?” Steven asked.  
“Perhaps. We might need to take her on a simple mission. That is, if she’s up for that.” Pearl said, glancing at Idocrase momentarily.  
Idocrase’s expression lit up at the notion of going on a mission with the gems that took her in. She couldn’t help but let a large smile stretch across her face.  
“Y-Yeah, I’d love to do that.” Idocrase beamed.  
“Then we’re done here for now. We’ll just need to wait until we find a mission you can tag along with us on.”  
Idocrase nodded in agreement as she started to walk up the colosseum’s cracking staircase.  
“I think I’m gonna go back to the barn now, if that’s alright with you.” She said  
“Certainly, and don’t be afraid to come back if you want to practice more.” Pearl called out to her.  
Idocrase turned back to look at Pearl and nodded with a smile on her face. She continued to climb the stairs as the warm sunlight hit her back, wrapping her body in a warm sensation that Idocrase hadn’t felt in a while.


End file.
